The newest title from Inti Creates is nearly here, and if you think Azure Striker Gunvolt looks like Mega Man… well, you’re right. It definitely has a lot of similar elements. If you don’t know Inti Creates, perhaps you haven’t followed the offshoots of the Blue Bomber over the years. Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man 9 & 10 are all on their résumé, in addition to a load of Japanese only titles and the co-development of the upcoming Shantae games.

The game is without a step-by-step tutorial, but you will be thrown into situations that force you to try things. You can’t slide on walls, but you can jump up them. Gap too big for a normal jump? Dash jump. Too far for that? Dash jump and glide the rest of the way. The fighting mechanic is the biggest difference from what you’ve probably played in the past. While you have a gun that does damage, it’s nothing compared to what it can do when combined with your electricity. There are three levels of damage you can do with it – shoot an enemy three times and hit them with the juice, and watch them die almost instantly. Shoot them once, give it a few seconds. The mechanics of all this changes as you progress in the game; you acquire new equipment that you can equip, as well as new skills and items you synthesize. For example, the most enemies you can hit with the default gear is three – the first upgrade I got had shots going through enemies and allowing up to five being electrocuted at a time. From what I’ve seen, there are six stages to select – you know, images of boss heads.

A pretty awesome incentive to buying the game comes in the way of another game. If you buy Azure Striker Gunvolt before the 28th of November, you get Mighty Gunvolt for free. It appears this is the only way to get the game, as there are currently no plans to sell the game by itself after the three month period. The game is very much a throwback to the NES era. It takes assets from Azure Striker Gunvolt and mixes them down to a much simpler, albeit difficult game. You’re able to play as three different characters, and the title should give a hint to two of them: Beck (Mighty No. 9), Gunvolt, and Ekoro (Japan only title Gal*Gun). Simply put, if you have a Rock shaped hole in your heart, this will fill in most of it.

A full review of Azure Striker Gunvolt, going into detail about battle mechanics, bosses, gear, characters, what works, what doesn’t, story, art, and more (including Mighty Gunvolt? Perhaps) will be up on the 28th. None of this sissy under 500 word count business. Oh, and in the instance you think Inti is just ripping off Inafune, it might help you sleep at night to know he is actually the Action Director, as the video above states.